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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows.

By Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat

7:30AM BST 03 Oct 2009

A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

Ahmadinejad showing papers during election. It shows that his family's previous name was Jewish

A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.

The previews of CNN host Piers Morgan’s interview with the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, look highly entertaining. In the previews, Morgan presses Ahmadinejad hard on the issue of the taboo of homosexuality in Iran and, in previews on Monday, Morgan claimed that he pursued pressing issues like Israeli-Iranian relations. But in Ahmadinejad’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday, the Iranian leader made a mockery of even the exercise of exposing Ahmadinejad to a pliant and credulous Western media.

The two argued forcefully over the rights of gay men and women, which are seriously curtailed in the Islamic Republic. In fact, the United Nations’ own Human Rights Committee has recommended Iran seriously consider amending its laws pertaining to homosexuality after having found that Iran’s laws violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

This type of human rights-related celebrity cause is easy to drum up indignation over. There will be no blowback from the progressive members of the nation’s news media for advocating for homosexual freedoms and human rights too forcefully.

However, I was a touch disturbed that the pull clip which CNN chose to show to promote this interview had nothing to do with the single most pressing global security issue of our time – Iran’s rapid nuclearization and the imminent threat of a preemptive Israeli strike on Iran’s enrichment facilities. Having not seen the interview, I opted to withhold judgment. But as the preview of Morgan’s interview on CNN wore on, my faith that this most dire of issues would be seriously addressed continued to wan.

My doubts about the integrity of the interview were further eroded when Morgan concluded his pitch by saying, with palpable astonishment, that Ahmadinejad’s perceived animosity towards Israel is the result of a simple misunderstanding.

“He clarified this statement that he made, which caused a huge furor at the time, which was that he wanted to wipe Israel off the map,” said Morgan. “When I really pressed him on this tonight, he says – really, what he implies what he meant – was that he wanted to wipe, as he put it, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land off the map.”

Oh, there you go. A bit of a blooper. Merely a case of crossed signals. In fact, the confusion was really the fault of the West – maybe a failure of Farsi to English translation. If only those pesky Israelis would do something drastic, like unilaterally drag citizens from their homes, kicking and screaming, in order to placate international pressure groups… Wait, that didn’t work the first time?

Morgan seems to have accepted this explanation at faith value – as though Ahmadinejad’s remark was a poorly reported, one-time gaffe or a rhetorical stretch to placate an irrational constituency back home. It was not. This has been a rallying cry that Iran’s theocratic leaders found to be a guiding principle which qualified Ahmadinejad for the presidency in 2005. Futhermore, it is a threat that he has repeated countless times (though, the Anti-Defamation League has a decent running list).

The most recent being today in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly.

“Iran has been around for the last seven, 10 thousand years. They (the Israelis) have been occupying those territories for the last 60 to 70 years, with the support and force of the Westerners. They have no roots there in history,” Ahmadinejad said, ominously. “We don’t even count them as any part of any equation for Iran. During a historical phase, they (the Israelis) represent minimal disturbances that come into the picture and are then eliminated.”

Again, I have not seen Morgan’s interview and I hesitate to prejudge it. Perhaps Morgan presses Ahmadinejad on the implications that his treats have for global security and that his remarks by themselves represent an irresponsible provocation – his constituency be damned. Maybe Morgan does not let Ahmadinejad’s clarification stand and follows up by asking why he has multiple times referred to Israel as a “tumor” on the body of the Middle East that must be excised. Maybe Morgan asks why Ahmadinejad has so often denied that the Holocaust even occurred. Maybe Morgan asks why Ahmadinejad presides over the globe’s number one exporter of terror that has regularly waged terror campaigns pinside Israel and is linked to an attempted attack on U.S. soil less than one year ago.

Or maybe he just found him “charming.” Tonight, we will see. Many will be watching.

In New York, defiant Ahmadinejad says Israel will be "eliminated"

By Louis Charbonneau | Reuters – Mon, Sep 24, 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated," ignoring a U.N. warning to avoid incendiary rhetoric ahead of the annual General Assembly session.

Ahmadinejad also said he did not take seriously the threat that Israel could launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, denied sending arms to Syria, and alluded to Iran's threats to the life of British author Salman Rushdie.

The United States quickly dismissed the Iranian president's comments as "disgusting, offensive and outrageous."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted Israel could strike Iran's nuclear sites and criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's position that sanctions and diplomacy should be given more time to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran denies it is seeking nuclear arms and says its atomic work is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.

"Fundamentally we do not take seriously the threats of the Zionists," Ahmadinejad, in New York for this week's U.N. General Assembly, told reporters. "We have all the defensive means at our disposal and we are ready to defend ourselves."

Ahmadinejad is due to speak at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Ahmadinejad on Sunday and warned him of the dangers of incendiary rhetoric in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad, who has used previous U.N. sessions to question the Holocaust and the U.S. account of the September 11, 2001, attacks, did not heed the warning and instead expanded on his previous rejection of Israel's right to exist. Western envoys typically walk out of Ahmadinejad's U.N. speeches in protest at his remarks.

"Iran has been around for the last seven, 10 thousand years. They (the Israelis) have been occupying those territories for the last 60 to 70 years, with the support and force of the Westerners. They have no roots there in history," he said, referring to the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948.

"We do believe that they have found themselves at a dead end and they are seeking new adventures in order to escape this dead end. Iran will not be damaged with foreign bombs," Ahmadinejad said, speaking through an interpreter at his Manhattan hotel.

"We don't even count them as any part of any equation for Iran. During a historical phase, they (the Israelis) represent minimal disturbances that come into the picture and are then eliminated."

In 2005, Ahmadinejad called Israel a "tumor" and echoed the words of the former Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, by saying that Israel should be wiped off the map.

WHITE HOUSE: COMMENTS DISGUSTING

In Washington, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel's security.

"President Ahmadinejad's comments are characteristically disgusting, offensive and outrageous," he said. "They underscore again why America's commitment to the security of Israel must be unshakeable, and why the world must hold Iran accountable for its utter failure to meet its obligations."

The United States also officially linked Iran's state oil company to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a move that enables Washington to apply new sanctions on foreign banks dealing with the company.

Attending what will likely be his last U.N. General Assembly as he nears the end of his second term next year, Ahmadinejad also spoke at a high-level U.N. session on the rule of law, prompting a walkout by Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor.

"Ahmadinejad showed again that he not only threatens the future of the Jewish people, he seeks to erase our past," Prosor said in a statement. "Three thousand years of Jewish history illustrate the clear danger of ignoring fanatics like Iran's president, especially as he inches closer to acquiring nuclear weapons."

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted on Sunday as saying that Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel if it was sure the Jewish state was preparing to attack it.

Ahmadinejad said the nuclear issue was ultimately between the United States and Iran and must be resolved in talks.

"The nuclear issue is not a problem," he said. "But the approach of the United States on Iran is important. We are ready for dialogue, for a fundamental resolution of the problems, but under conditions that are based on fairness and mutual respect.

"We are not expecting a 33-year-old problem between the United States and Iran to be resolved in a speedy fashion," Ahmadinejad said. "But there is no other way besides dialogue."

Obama will underscore his commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and address Muslim unrest related to an anti-Islamic video in his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, the White House said.

'BULLYING COUNTRIES'

At the meeting on the rule of law, Ahmadinejad said states should not yield to rules imposed "by bullying countries."

Ahmadinejad said on Monday that conditions in Iran, which is under U.N., U.S. and European Union sanctions over its nuclear program, were not as bad as portrayed by some and the country could survive without oil revenues.

Britain, France and Germany called for fresh economic sanctions on Iran in a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, a top French official told reporters.

"If we want to reach a diplomatic and peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear program, then we must increase the pressure," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

Western sanctions on Iran tightened markedly this year with an EU ban on crude oil purchases from Iran and U.S. sanctions targeting banks that deal with Iran's central bank. Those sanctions have not yielded tangible progress toward a diplomatic solution.

There will be high-level side meetings on Iran's nuclear program and the Syrian conflict during the General Assembly but U.N. diplomats do not expect either issue to be resolved soon.

Ahmadinejad's annual visits to New York, a city with a sizable Jewish population, are routinely met with protests against his anti-Israel rhetoric. United Against Nuclear Iran, a U.S. group that opposesIran acquiring an atomic bomb, protested at the Iranian official's hotel with a banner reading "Out of the Warwick, out of New York, out of the U.N.!"

'WE SEEK PEACE IN SYRIA'

Ahmadinejad rejected charges by the United Nations and Western officials that Iran is sending arms to pro-government forces in Syria fighting rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad. "The so-called news that you alluded to has been denied vehemently, officially," he said to a question.

"We see both sides as equally our brothers," he said. "The intervention and meddling from outside have made conditions that much tougher. We must help to quell the violence and help ... (facilitate) a national dialogue."

Ahmadinejad also was asked about a move by an Iranian religious foundation to increase its reward for the killing of Rushdie in response to a California-made anti-Islam video called "The Innocence of Muslims" that has sparked anti-American protests around the Muslim world.

"Where is he now?" Ahmadinejad asked of Rushdie. "Is he in the United States? If he is, you shouldn't broadcast that for his own safety.

Rushdie, an Indian-born British novelist who has nothing to do with the video, was condemned to death in 1989 by Khomeini, Iran's late leader, because of his novel "The Satanic Verses," saying its depiction of the Prophet Mohammad was blasphemous.

Ahmadinejad appeared to reject Washington's position that while it condemns the video's content, freedom of expression must be upheld. "Freedoms must not interfere with the freedoms of others," Ahmadinejad said. "If someone insults, what would you do? ... Is insulting other people not a form of crime?"

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and John Irish; Writing by Michelle Nichols and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Will Dunham and Bill Trott)

Ahmadinejad decries 'uncivilized Zionists,' urges new order

By REUTERS

09/26/2012 20:34

US, Canadian, Israeli delegations do not arrive for Iranian president's speech to the UN General Assembly over Yom Kippur; Ahmadinejad says situation in the world is due to mismanagement by "self-proclaimed centers of power."

PHOTO: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS - Iran's president said on Wednesday his country was under constant threat of military action from "uncivilized Zionists" and called for a new world order not dominated by Western powers in the service of "the devil."

In his eighth address to the UN General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad painted a gloomy picture of a world driven by greed rather than moral values.

"The current abysmal situation of the world and the bitter incidents of history are due mainly to the wrong management of the world and the self-proclaimed centers of power who have entrusted themselves to the devil," Ahmadinejad said, in what is expected to be his last address to the world body.

There was no reiteration of his comments to journalists in New York on Monday that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated."

However, in a clear reference to Israel, he told the assembly: "Continued threat by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality."

On Tuesday, in his address to the General Assembly, US President Barack Obama warned Iran he would do what it takes to prevent it from getting nuclear arms and said there was not an unlimited time to solve the crisis via diplomacy.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is due to speak at the United Nations on Thursday, has hinted Israel could strike Iran's nuclear sites, and has criticized Obama's position that sanctions and diplomacy should be given more time to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Without mentioning the United States by name, Ahmadinejad took aim at Washington's global dominance, asking: "Are we to believe that those who spend hundreds of millions of dollars on election campaigns have the interest of the people of the world at their hearts?"

Representatives of the United States, Canada and Israel chose not to be present in the UN auditorium for the speech, which coincided with Yom Kippur, one of the most important Jewish holidays.

Ahmadinejad, whose own second and final term in office ends next year, said authority should be used as a sacred gift, "not a chance to amass power and wealth."

Israel and the United States have refused to rule out the possibility of an armed strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West suspects aim to produce atomic bombs but which Tehran says are for solely peaceful purposes.

'A great and proud nation'

Iran is under sanctions imposed by the United Nations and Western powers for its refusal to comply with UN Security Council demands to halt its nuclear enrichment program.

Ahmadinejad said the 15-nation council, on which the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China all have vetoes, was dominated by "a limited number of governments," preventing the United Nations from acting in a just and equitable way.

Declaring that he represented "a great and proud nation that was a founder of human civilization," Ahmadinejad said: "There is no doubt that the world is in need of a new order and a fresh way of thinking."

by MAUREEN PAO and MARK MEMMOTTIn something of a swan song, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his eighth — and likely final — appearance before the U.N. General Assembly to elaborate on his vision of a new world order and criticize what he calls the world's "hegemonic" and "expansionist" powers.In general, the Iranian leader took a less confrontational tone than in previous years.Unlike last year, for example, when he characterized the Sept. 11 attacks as "mysterious" and a "pretext [for the U.S.] to attack Afghanistan and Iraq," Ahmadinejad this year referred to the "tragic incident of Sept. 11" and described Osama bin Laden as "the culprit."Update at 12:01 p.m. ET. Iran Under ThreatAhmadinejad used his speech to reiterate a list of injustices against Iran, but in language that was a stark departure from more fiery presentations in the past.John Moore/Getty ImagesIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his address today at the U.N.As an example of the "new era of hegemony," he pointed out the "continued threat by the uncivilized Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation is a clear example of this bitter reality."Ahmadinejad's speech took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. The Israeli delegation was not present while the Iranian leader spoke.The U.S. delegation also was not present. A spokeswoman for the U.S. mission said it decided not to attend the speech because Ahmadinejad was using his trip to "spout paranoid theories and repulsive slurs against Israel."Israel."read more at http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/26/161804092/ahead-of-u-n-address-ahmadinejad-talks-of-new-world-order